Amber Sekoll
EDC 102H
Dr. Fogelman
September 19, 2013
There are a lot of details of my childhood that I’ve long forgotten, like what my favorite shirt was, or where I sat at lunch. The things that I can remember, though, are some of the most important things I’ve learned in school. Yes, learning the ABC’s and 1,2,3’s were obviously fundamental, but what I’m referring to are all of the lessons I’ve learned that taught me how to be a good student. To this day, I can remember with almost exact precision the times I learned about honesty, responsibility, and procrastination during my elementary/middle school years. Learning these lessons on how to be a good student have taken me very far through my academic career.
In second grade, my teacher, Mrs. Cockfield, would give our class a spelling test almost every week. When we were finished with the test, we got to grade our own, and we were expected to be honest if we got a problem wrong, and not change our answers before we handed them in to her. I had always gotten a 100% on all of my spelling tests… Until one week, when I found myself in a predicament. My streak of getting a perfect score had finally come to an end; I had gotten one of the words wrong! Feeling mischievous, I decided that I would change my answer before handing in the test, and mark it right. When it was my turn to hand in my test, I walked up to her desk feeling horribly guilty. For some reason, she decided to ask me specifically if I had cheated on my test. Knowing I couldn’t lie to my teacher, I told her the truth. Although she was disappointed in me, she said that she was proud of me for being honest. From that second grade experience, I learned to always maintain academic integrity and to never cheat. Mrs. Cockfield taught me to take pride in my work, even when it’s not perfect, and that cheating on an assignment isn’t worth the consequences. Ever since that day, I’ve held the mantra that honesty really is the best policy!
Fourth grade was a really tough year for me. I had been assigned the strictest teacher in the entire school. Her tough grading policies and no tolerance for late work constantly put me under stress. In fact, I became so stressed at one point during the year that my parents decided to have a meeting with her to figure out what was stressing me out so much in class. My teacher, Mrs. DelSole, explained to my parents that her ultimate goal for the year was to try and teach her class about responsibility. She held such strict policies in class so that we would learn to stay on top of our assignments and take our responsibilities as students seriously. At the time, Mrs. DelSole seemed like an evil teacher who pushed her students’ way too hard, but looking back now, I see that she only had the best of intentions for her students. I am thankful that she enforced such strict rules about getting our work done, because it taught me how to be a responsible student. Although responsibility is still something I’m trying to master to this day, I accredit my progress to her, and always think of her whenever I need a wake-up call.
After graduating from elementary school, I was very nervous to start middle school. The fifth grade teachers had put images of mean teachers who handed out detentions for the slightest infractions into our heads, and on top of that, I was moving to a new school where I had no friends! To say the least, I was terrified of middle school. Around Thanksgiving, my math teacher, Mrs. Stimpson, assigned our class our first big project ever. This project was due before Christmas break, and had many parts to it. Since I had never had a project so big before, I underestimated the time I had to complete it, and ended up putting most of it off until the night before it was due. Needless to say, my parents were pretty mad that I procrastinated so much, and were even more infuriated when we had to run out to Rite Aid at nine at night to buy supplies for the project. After a late night doing calculations and gluing things together, my project was completed. My parents were beyond disappointed in me for putting the project off for so long, and I ended up not getting the grade I wanted on the project, because I missed so many details in my hurry to finish it. From this awful experience, I learned that procrastination is every student’s worst enemy. Mrs. Stimpson taught me that doing a little bit of a big project each night not only reduces stress, but also helps you get a better grade. Today, whenever I get assigned projects or long assignments, I think of that terrible night in sixth grade and remember not to put it off until the last possible second. Experts say that young children can learn a lot more easily than adults can; their brains are like sponges that absorb all the knowledge they can get a hold of. I was fortunate enough to have wonderful teachers through my early education days who taught me how to be the best student I can be. They were nurturing, yet tough enough to not let us slip up on our work. Mrs. Cockfield, Mrs. DelSole, and Mrs. Stimpson are among the many teacher I’ve had that have been the most influential. Without their guidance and toughness, I wouldn’t be the student I am today.
EDC 102H
Dr. Fogelman
September 19, 2013
There are a lot of details of my childhood that I’ve long forgotten, like what my favorite shirt was, or where I sat at lunch. The things that I can remember, though, are some of the most important things I’ve learned in school. Yes, learning the ABC’s and 1,2,3’s were obviously fundamental, but what I’m referring to are all of the lessons I’ve learned that taught me how to be a good student. To this day, I can remember with almost exact precision the times I learned about honesty, responsibility, and procrastination during my elementary/middle school years. Learning these lessons on how to be a good student have taken me very far through my academic career.
In second grade, my teacher, Mrs. Cockfield, would give our class a spelling test almost every week. When we were finished with the test, we got to grade our own, and we were expected to be honest if we got a problem wrong, and not change our answers before we handed them in to her. I had always gotten a 100% on all of my spelling tests… Until one week, when I found myself in a predicament. My streak of getting a perfect score had finally come to an end; I had gotten one of the words wrong! Feeling mischievous, I decided that I would change my answer before handing in the test, and mark it right. When it was my turn to hand in my test, I walked up to her desk feeling horribly guilty. For some reason, she decided to ask me specifically if I had cheated on my test. Knowing I couldn’t lie to my teacher, I told her the truth. Although she was disappointed in me, she said that she was proud of me for being honest. From that second grade experience, I learned to always maintain academic integrity and to never cheat. Mrs. Cockfield taught me to take pride in my work, even when it’s not perfect, and that cheating on an assignment isn’t worth the consequences. Ever since that day, I’ve held the mantra that honesty really is the best policy!
Fourth grade was a really tough year for me. I had been assigned the strictest teacher in the entire school. Her tough grading policies and no tolerance for late work constantly put me under stress. In fact, I became so stressed at one point during the year that my parents decided to have a meeting with her to figure out what was stressing me out so much in class. My teacher, Mrs. DelSole, explained to my parents that her ultimate goal for the year was to try and teach her class about responsibility. She held such strict policies in class so that we would learn to stay on top of our assignments and take our responsibilities as students seriously. At the time, Mrs. DelSole seemed like an evil teacher who pushed her students’ way too hard, but looking back now, I see that she only had the best of intentions for her students. I am thankful that she enforced such strict rules about getting our work done, because it taught me how to be a responsible student. Although responsibility is still something I’m trying to master to this day, I accredit my progress to her, and always think of her whenever I need a wake-up call.
After graduating from elementary school, I was very nervous to start middle school. The fifth grade teachers had put images of mean teachers who handed out detentions for the slightest infractions into our heads, and on top of that, I was moving to a new school where I had no friends! To say the least, I was terrified of middle school. Around Thanksgiving, my math teacher, Mrs. Stimpson, assigned our class our first big project ever. This project was due before Christmas break, and had many parts to it. Since I had never had a project so big before, I underestimated the time I had to complete it, and ended up putting most of it off until the night before it was due. Needless to say, my parents were pretty mad that I procrastinated so much, and were even more infuriated when we had to run out to Rite Aid at nine at night to buy supplies for the project. After a late night doing calculations and gluing things together, my project was completed. My parents were beyond disappointed in me for putting the project off for so long, and I ended up not getting the grade I wanted on the project, because I missed so many details in my hurry to finish it. From this awful experience, I learned that procrastination is every student’s worst enemy. Mrs. Stimpson taught me that doing a little bit of a big project each night not only reduces stress, but also helps you get a better grade. Today, whenever I get assigned projects or long assignments, I think of that terrible night in sixth grade and remember not to put it off until the last possible second.
Experts say that young children can learn a lot more easily than adults can; their brains are like sponges that absorb all the knowledge they can get a hold of. I was fortunate enough to have wonderful teachers through my early education days who taught me how to be the best student I can be. They were nurturing, yet tough enough to not let us slip up on our work. Mrs. Cockfield, Mrs. DelSole, and Mrs. Stimpson are among the many teacher I’ve had that have been the most influential. Without their guidance and toughness, I wouldn’t be the student I am today.